FRG's `puritan' boss sackedBUCHAREST: The president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG) Nicolae Vieru has been sacked by the country's sports minister for punishing Romanian star Corina Ungureanu for appearing nude in Playboy, the FRG revealed on Thursday. His actions were widely cricised by the media and also by sports minister Crin Antonescu, who accused the FRG of "excessive puritanism".Budge on respiratorNEW YORK: Tennis legend Don Budge, who survived a car accident eight days earlier in the Pocono Mountains, was on a ventilator support, a machine that assists breathing, and remained in critical condition in the coronary care unit at St Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York State.Tennis wild cardsSYDNEY: Japan's Gouichi Motomura, ranked 147, and China's Jing-Qian Yi, ranked 140, were awarded wild cards to next month's Australian Open tennis tournament. The Asian wildcard was introduced in 1997, offering a main-draw berth to one man and one woman outsidethe entry cut-off. Other Asians in the draw are Japan's Takao Suzuki, Korean Sung-Hee Park, Leander Paes and Nirupama Vaidyanathan.Lucy gives upSYDNEY: Former world cycling champion Lucy Tyler-Sharman has abandoned her dream of representing Australia at next year's Sydney Olympics. Bitter and broke after her long-running row with Cycling Australia officials, Tyler-Sharman has returned to live in the United States.According to Sydney Morning Herald, the 34-year-old 1998 world pursuit champion had given up on her Olympic dream because of her fall-out with cycling officialdom.- Agencies
